A few weeks ago I walked through the door on a Sunday evening, put my bags down, hugged my family hello and started the turn around from road, to home, to back to work. It's always a quick turn around.
As we were finishing dinner that night, my phone rang and, the conversation that followed was completely out of the blue and full of wonder. It centered around this question,
"What does your next best self look like?"
What does it look like? And what if you were invited to a join a group of change-makers who were going to help you answer that question while giving you access to help and guidance that otherwise would be out of reach?
So there I was, under the gun to get laundry in the wash, unpack, regroup, tidy up and then, there I was pondering where I was in the right here and right now and consider where it is I'd like to go. And not just where I'd like to go by following the days from work to home to work again, but really, where do I want to go and what do I want to look like in 18 months?
Your next best self. Not just your inevitable next self, but your next BEST self. It requires me to assess which parts of my life are intentional and which are more like a treadmill. The treadmill will always be there, but it shouldn't take over. It should be set in its rightful place.
What's working well and what's not working? What do I want more of and what could I do without?
I thought about it and thought about it. I talked with my family about it, my friends about it and I still think about it while sweeping up at the cafe and refilling the ice machine. And this is one of the realizations I came to:
There wasn't anything keeping me from asking that very question on my own to myself the day before the phone call came. The more I think about it, the less it has to do with a pile of money and more to do with creating a culture close to home that is creative, artistic, encouraging and catching. The funny thing is that I've had permission to pursue my next best self this whole time, I just didn't think I was deserving.
Then a friend calls me up, tells me she wants to include me in a project involving change makers and says we're going to give you some seed money, we're going to meet up occasionally to help each other along and together, we're going to work on our next incarnation of transformation- in all its shapes and sizes. And I'm in.
And you're in too. Think about it. What does your next best self look like? What do you want in your life that's not there yet? What do you want more of and what do you want less of? How would allowing yourself to become the person God called you to be create a chain reaction of inspiration within your community?
That's what I'm thinking about. For me it's got something to do with music, with bringing home that which I now venture out to go find, with challenge and doing scary things. And a podcast, perhaps.
Now you think about it. Because it can't just be one of us or some of us. We need those called to hospitality, to charity, to bravery. We need people called to activism, to prayer, to adventure, to skill of all sorts. We need real world examples of gospel freedom by those inspired by the love of God. Do it. I'm going to try and do it. In a very imperfect, stumbly bumbly manner. But I'm going to do it.